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Welcome to my Polish blog! My Polish great grandpa was orphaned during the Chicago flu epidemic of 1918 & spent his life looking for all of his siblings. Some family stayed in Chicago & some returned to Poland. Some family was Catholic, & some are believed to be Jewish. I post the things I learn in efforts it may help someone else in their research. I also hope this blog helps me connect with others that know about the people I'm learning about. Digital images of records or links are put inside most postings so you can view records full screen. I encourage comments. Feel free to sign the guestbook, stating who you're looking for. Maybe we can all help each other out this way, because there are many challenges with Polish research. I hope you enjoy learning with me. And I hope to be taught more about my Polish heritage.I have added a few languages to this blog through Google translate. I hope that it may be accurate enough with the communication of ideas. Thanks! -Julie

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20 April 2014

Today is Easter Sunday. A special Sunday when many people of the Christian faiths around the world attend church. So I thought I'd like to mention thinking about the importance of religion and family history.

What ceremonies or religious things were important to your ancestors? Most likely, because it was important, it was recorded. Either by the church, or in a family Bible or diary. Does that record still exist? If so, it would probably be a great help to you. Ask your relatives. Most religious records list parents names and/or a spouse. Religious records can really help prove the links in our tree a little better. Various rites in religions such as: Sacraments, Holy Communion, Marriage, the various terms for naming a baby.

Different religions and ethnicities have ways of doing things. Patterns. Do you know the pattern for your family? For the religion and ethnicity of your ancestors? I've spoken with several historians that work with Catholic archives in Chicago and Minneapolis. The typical pattern for a Polish Catholic family about 1900-1920 was to settle near the Great Lakes, (similar land and weather to their old home), settle in a Polish neighborhood, pick a Catholic church, then stick with it. Even if that family moved from Chicago to Gary, Indiana,.... if there was a wedding, tradition and the family pattern would say they go back to the church the bride was baptized in. Even if it is a 3-4 hour drive, the whole wedding party would drive that distance. It keeps all the records in one church. Like in Europe. I hear about my husband's Italians, that if you know the Catholic church (which we do), then you can follow the records back for hundreds of years.

One of the historians in Chicago called me, wanting to discuss my letter and to tell me exactly how much Adam Sanetra broke typical patterns. She was curious and asked if I knew why. I told her I had no idea, until she explained all this to me. We didn't even know they spoke German. Adam Sanetra, a Polish Catholic, moved to a German speaking town, his first two children were baptized in a church that only did German mass until that had to change with WWI. Then each child was baptized in a different church. Two of which I still haven't seen, and Jozef was baptized in an Irish church with mass in Gaelic. All of the churches were just a few miles apart too.

Religion can affect where you are buried. In rural America, people were often buried on their family farms. Catholic historians have explained to me there's some pretty specific things about their burial. A Catholic priest-historian explained to me that there are Jewish women buried in their cemeteries during WWII time. If the husband claimed his wife was Catholic for her safety, then, things just happened. Other times, the church allowed them to have the ceremony at the church with family but they were buried somewhere else. There were many mixed religion marriages during WWII. Also, many religions used to be very against cremation, but are no longer against it today.

The majority of the marriage records for my ancestors, before WWII, were performed at a church, (of many different denominations.) Unless there were conflicts with different religions, then they may have chosen justice of the peace. There are two main type of marriage records. A ledger: a book listing one after the other who was married, in the courthouse. And a certificate. I was married at a church, and there is a certificate for the church, and it is also recorded on the ledger at the courthouse. The same is true for relatives I have found a hundred years ago. Usually the pastor or priest's name and sometimes the name of the church are also on the certificate. Often the same records you have today for yourself, also existed 100 years ago.(click on images to view full screen)

Here is Karol Janik, marrying Julia. Adam Sanetra said on Ellis Island this was his brother in law. Not sure how yet. This says Holy Trinity Church, which is a Catholic church in Chicago. So there should also be a courthouse record too, from the ledger books.Example of one from Virginia:

Ledger marriage books at courthouses

right half of marriage ledger

Also for fun wanted to add in two Easter cards that Paul Sanetra (son of Adam) got from his nephew Adam (grandson of Adam) about the early 1980's

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Naturalization info help

See posting 18 Jul 2010 for links, explanations and JPEG image examples explaining how I have found naturalization records.

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Chicago Census Maps & Chicago street grid (address) changes

If you have an address, you can look up your family on the Census through Census maps. Which for immigrant names, is often an easier way to find families. See more on the posting 1 Oct 2009, or the tag "census maps".
Also, there were major changes to Chicago addresses in 1909 & 1911. See the posting for 1 Jan 2010.